Automatic whistle



y 1929. ML FANDERS AUTOMATIC WHISTLE 2 Sheets-Sheet Filed Jan. 1928 MarTen Fanders May 7, 1929. M. FANDERS 12,339

AUTOMATIC WHISTLE Filed Jan. 3, 1928 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 gmanlioz l 1 I I F MurTen Fanciers iii) Patented May 7, 1929,

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

QNETHJIBD r9 ma ia AUTOMATIC wHIs'rLE.

Application filed January 3, 1928. Serial No. 244,358.

My invention relates to automatic whistles and its primary object is the provision any desired combination of blasts may be obtained from the whistle, whereby adjustment may be made in the number and duration of the blasts and of the interval between successive blasts.

rinother object of my invention is the provision of actuating mechanism whereby the a whistle will be actuated only during the forward movement of the locomotive. i

Another object of my invention is the pro- 1 sion of butler springs which take. up the shock of the impact when a rapidly moving locomotive strikes a fixed trip.

Having in view these objects and others which will be pointed out in the following description, I will now refer to the drawings, in which figure 1 is a view in elevation showing the i tle actuating mechanism. i

l V are 2 is a view in elevation-of the shaft l and of its connections and showing particularly the relation between the trip arm 52 :nd the fixed abutment.

Figure 3 a view in elevation showing the parts which are shown in Figure 2 as viewed when looking forwardly.

l igfllre at is a plan view of the parts shown in Figures 2 and 3. i

Figures 5 and G are elevational views showing a modified form of abutment and showing also modified forms of a trip mechanism.

Numeral r l E,

designates a cylinder having end walls 11 and 12. The cylinder is pro vidcd with a piston 13 having a piston rod lit projecting through the wall 11. The end wall ll provided with extensions having collars l5 and 16 for slidably receiving rods 17 and 18 respectively, the rods being maintained in parallel relation with respect to the axis of the cylinder 10. The rods 17 and 38 are connected at their rear extremii' by a connecting member 19which is secured in the piston 14: at its projecting'extremity. The arrangement is such that movement of the piston rodl3 is communicated to the rods 17 and 18 which travel in the same direction as the piston. The mode of operation of course, is to introduce steam into the cylinder head so as to move the piston toward the end 11 under the pressure of the steam. The rod 17 is surrounded by a coil spring 20 which has its abutments on the disc 21 and on the collar 15. The same spring 20 functions to brake the movement of the piston 13and to thus retard that movement and it serves also to restore the piston to its inoperative position when the pressure of the steam is released from the cylinder.

The end portions 11 and 12 of the cylinder are provided with upward extensions 22 and 23 and these upward extensions are con nected at their upper ends by means of a bar 24. Above the bar 24 and parallel therewith is a bar 25 which is connected by means of a coil spring 26 and achain 27 to the valve of the whistle 28. The bars 24 and 25 are both apertured along their lengths. Connecting the bars 24 and 25 are levers 29 which are also apertured in order to permit adjustment of the levers 29 relative to the bars. The rod 18 is provid ed at its free extremity with a pivoted lever trip 30 connected with a coil spring 31. It will be apparent that the movement of the piston 13 under the pressure of the steam will result in the sliding movement of the rod 18 together with the trip 30. The trip 30 engages the lower extremities of the lovers 29 and causes pivotal movement of these levers about their pivots on the bar he result is that the upper extremities of the lovers 29 are moved to carry with them the bar 25 to tension the spring 26 and to thus actuate the whistle. The move ment of the trip 30 is thus communicated to the levers 29 and as soon as the trip 30 has passed any particular lever 29, the lever is restored under the action of the spring 26 to its normal inoperative position. 7

The feature of adjustment between the lovers 29 and the bars 24 and 25 is necessary in order to vary the time between and the length of the blasts. The interval may be varied by varying the distance between successive levers 29 and the lengths may be varied by vertically adjustingthe levers justing'means thus described it is possible to provide for any desirable combination of blasts both in lengths. and intervals, the

number of blasts being determined bythe number of levers 29 in. use. Thus t two shorts and a long'aredesi-red then the first two levers to be engaged by the trip levers areto lie-connected to. the bars-24 and 25 with their lower extremities on a higher level than that of the third lever 29.

The device maybe-operated by any compressible, gas-but since it is to be used main- 'ly onlocomotives, it should be connected with asource of steam, either dry or lubri- ,cated. giIf drysteam is used, then lubricating oil should be introduced to lubricate the 'piston13; The-steamfis introduced through 'apipe 32 having a connection 33 with the 25 cylinder; 13. The pipe '32 is provided with gate valves at 34 and 35, the valve 34 being the inlet valve and the valve. 35 being the exhaust valve; The valve, stem 36 of "the valve, 34 is extended a considerable distanceand' the valvze stem 3720f the valve 35 is somewhat extended." The valve stems 36 and37 are :provided with'links 38 and 39,

therfreeqends of the links being connected by. means of a lever 40 which is pivotally connected at 41 at a fixed point between the valve stems 36.and 37. The movement of either :valve stem is thus communicated in the opposite direction to 'the other valve stem so that when one of the two gate valves is open, theother'is closed. The'pipe 32 is furtherprovided with a needle valve 42 for regulating the rate at which steam may be introduced into the cylinderlO. The valve stem 37 is further provided with a linkage having, a dead center spring 43 for positive- Q forcing the valve '35 to open or :closed position when theparts move across center.

,After the last blast of the whistle the trigger-30 will-strike thelowerendot the lever 44,whichis pivotally connected to the bar 24 and to the rod 36. The movement of the upper endof' thelever 44 causes a move- .mentof the rod 36 to close the valve and the movementof rod'36 to close the valve 34' automatically opens the valve 35 by means ofthe mechanism ust described. No

" -more steam is thereafter admitted, to the cylinder l O but'the steam within the cylinder isallowedt'o escapefthrough the valve 35. .Under the action 'of-the spring 20,. the piston, 13 is restored to its normal inoperative position and the steam within the cylinder 10 is forced out. During this movement of the piston 13 the rod 18 is restored to its former position and the trip- 30: slides over then automatically restoring all of the parts to their normal. inoperative position. In Figure 1, I have shown one form of device which may be employed. for giving the initial impulse to the rod 36 and in the other figures I have shown various optional forms of devices for accomplishing the same result.

Theshaft 45 is journalled in fixed position relative to the frame of the locomotive. At its upper extremity it is provided with a lever arm 46 which is connected through a chain 47 and a spring 48 with the end of the rod 36. The turning of the shaft 45 will be communicated directly to the rod 36 and the sudden movement of the rod 45 will he cushioned by means of the spring 48. At the lower end of and loosely surrounding the shaft 45 is a ratchet collar 49 cooperating with the ratchet collar 50 secured to the shaft 45. Projecting from the ratchetcollar 49 is a lever arm 52 which is adapted to come in contact with any desired fixed abutment along the railroad track either between the rails or on the outer side thereof. In the forward motion of the locomotive, the lever arm 52 will be swung around through an arc, the arcuate movement being communicated through the ratchets 49 and 50 to the shaft 45 when the locomotive is in forward motion. The ratchet mechanism permits the free swinging of the lever arm 52 when the locomotive is traveling rearwardly but it actuates the shaft 45 positively when the locomotive moves forwardly.

It is frequently desirable as when using the locomotive for switching purposes that the automatic device for actuating the whistle be thrown out of operation and for this reason I have provided a mechanism as shown for example in Figure 1. The shaft 45 is provided with a fixed collar 54 surrounding the shaft and with a lever 55 which is journalled on the shaft. The outer end of the lever 55 is connected by means of a'link 56 to an adjusting lever 57 of any desired form which is secured to a fixed part of the locomotive frame. Surrounding the shaft 45 bet-ween the collar 54 and the lever 55 is a coil spring 58 having its ends auchored in the collar and the lever respective lv. The movement of the lever will then tiu'n the shaft 45 through an are such that the lever arm 52 will pass the abutments without touching them.

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It is my purpose to do away entirely with the whistling posts new in common use and I substitute therefor abutments of any de sired form such as those indicated by the numeral 59 in Figure 2. These are, of, course, always placed on. the right-handside of thetrack depending on the direction of movement of the locomotive. This necessitates that the actuating shaft 45 be also praced on theright-hand side of the comotive. It frequently happens, however, that a locomotive is compelled to travel rearwardly long dis;ances and in such cases the tripping lever is on. the side opposite the tripping abutments 59. For this reason I provide a Ii'JEClltllllSlll whereby the shaft will be actuated from either side of the locomotive. This also may be varied between wide limits and I have. shown only a few of the optional forms. In the form shown in Figure 3, a short shaft is journalled in the frame of the locomotive on its left side and this shaft is provided with a lever arm 61, a spring 62 and a ratchet device 63 similar to those on the shaft 45. The lever arms 45 and 61 are connected at their outer cuts by means of alink G-l. jl i ien, there fore, the locomotive is moving backwardly the lever arm engages the abutment 59 and the motionis communicated through the link 64 to the shaft 4:5.

The mechanism shown in Figures 2, 3 and l permits actuation of the shaft 45 from either side of the track. i lhen the locomotive moving forwardly and the trip arm engages an abutment 59, the movementof the trip arm 52 is communicated to the shaft 45. If the locomotive then backed up and passes the abutment- 59, the trip arm 52 will be swung through an are as it passes the rlmtment 59 but the arcuate movement will notice connnunicated to the shaft 41-5. is the locomotive moves forwardly the trip arm 65 will engage all of the abutuients on the left-hand side of the track but they will bemcrely swungthrough an are as they pass these abutnients; the ratchets permitting ll'lUYCillC-IL] of the trip arm without illOVQll'lPiil of the shaft 60. In backing up,

however the trip arms 65 engage the abut-1 meets on the left-braid side of the track in such a manner that the arcuate movements of the trip arms are communicated to. the shaft 60 and through the link (Sat 4-5 to set in operation the automatic whistling device. y

The abutnientbt) is admirably adapted for the function of setting in operation the trip mechanism through the shaft 45. Its chief drawback is in the fact that a rapidly moving locomotive generates an impact which may be only partly taken up in. the springs. For this reason I provide an alternative abutment of the fOYIHSllOWI] at 66 in" Fix ures 5 and 6. The abutment inthis case y a tothe shaft spring 20.

is preferably secured to the rails or to another fixed part of the track and it is pro vided with an upper convex surface of gradual slope. It is manifest that with this abutment the shaft 45 will not function. The rod 67 is secured to the frame of the locomotive in a manner such that it can slide up and down. At its upper end it is con.- nected to a link 68 which in turn is connected to an L-shaped lever 69 which is secured to a fixed pivot 70. The lever connected through a spring 48' and a chain 4.9 to red 86 in such a manner that the upward movement of the member 67 causes tension in a horizontal direction on the rod Secured to the lower end of the member 67 is a roller or other antifrietion member 71 whichtravels over the curved surface of the member 66. Surrounding the member 67 is a coil spring '72 which is so arranged that it normally maintainsthe rem er in its lower position and so that it restores that member to its lower position after the roller 71 has passed over the surface of the member 66.

The mechanism shown in Figure 5 may also be thrown into its inoperative position. For this purpose I provide a lever 57 with link 06 and bell crank 55 for raising the member 67 against the tension of the sprii'ig 72. The bell crank 55 is provided with a slot for receiving a pin passing into the slidable collar 73 surrounding the member 67. The device shown in Figure 5 may also be operated from either side of the track by employing the mechanism shown in Figure6. The slida-ble member 74- is secured to the frame of the locomotive on the left hand side and it is provided with a roller 75 at its lower end for ei'igaging the abutments on its side of the locomotive. Two horizontal spaced levers 76 are pivotally securedintermediate their ends to the frame of the lOCUlil'l-(ll'lVQ. One of these levers connected through a link 77 to the slidable member 74 while the other leveris connected through a link 78 to the slidable member 67. At their inner ends the lovers 76 are connected to each other by means of a V-shaped pair of pivotally connected links '79. i

From the foregoing description will be apparent that when the trip member strikes a whistling abutment, on. the righhhand sideif the locomotive is moving forwardly or on. the left-hand side if the locomotive moving rearwardly, tension will be applied to the rod 36 to open the valve 34: and to simultaneously close the valve The steam or). will then enter the cylinder 10 the rate of flow of the steam being governed by the needle valve 42. .The piston 13 will then move reaPw'ardly carrying with it the frame members 17 and 18, the movement of the piston 18 being somewhat retardedby the The tension of the spring 20' intervals between blasts of the whistle.

may be adjusted so as to produce the prop/pr s the frame member 18 moves rearwardly under the impulse of the piston rod 14, the trip member engages the lower extremities ot the levers 29 in succession. The numher and positions of levers 29 determine the number of blasts of the whistle, the lengths of the blasts and. the intervals between suc- COSSlXB blasts. After the trip member 30 has passed the last of the'levers 29 it engagesthe lower extremity of the lever 44 to move the piston rod 36 in a direction to close the valve 34 and to simultaneously open the valve 35. The spring 20 then ceases to function as a brake'spring and it assumes the function of restoring the piston 13 to its normalinoperative position and to force the steam out of the cylinder 10 through the wh n. When once the trip member engages a whistling abutment the remainder of the operation tsemrreiy automatic.

The'whistling abutment-s are necessarily placed on both sides of the railroad track but only those on the right-hand side when the locomotive is moving-forwardly and only those on the left-hand side when the locomotive is moving rearwa-rdly will actuate the whistling mechanism. In the embodiment disclosed in Figure '1, the trip members will of course engage the whistling abutments whether the'locomotive is moving forwardly or rearwardly but the ratchet devices prevent'the actuation of the whistling mechanism except when the locomotive, in moving either forwardly or rearwardly, approaches a crossing or other place where the whistle must be actuated. The structure shown in Figures 5 and 6 per- -mits ,of, operation by "all trackside trips.

If it is desired to throw the whistling mechanism entirely out of operation, as whenswitching in the yards, it ,is only necessary to throw back the lever 57 or its equivalent these springs serve largely as buffers to take up theshock. It will be noticed that it the arm 46 is violently thrown to its active position. the tension on, the rod 36 is applied through the spring'QB which takes up much of the motion. In other words, the spring 48 is expanded under the sudden action of the arm 46 and the spring is then more slowly contracted to actuate the piston rod 36.

The same thing is true of the spring 26 so that the whistlevalve is notopened too sud-, denly.

Having thus described my invention in such full, clear, and ,exact terms that its construction and operation willbe readily understood by others skilled in the art to which it pertains, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In an automatic locomotive whistle actuating mechanism, a cylinder and a piston, a pipe for conducting steam into said cylinder to move said piston rearwardly, an inlet valve and an outlet valve in said pi )e, a plurality of levers, a trip member movable with said piston and adapted to engage said levers in succession, a tension member connected with the valve of the locomotive whistle and connected with all of said levers whereby the whistle valve will be opened on engagement of said trip member with one of said levers, a spring for retarding the rearward movement of said. piston and for returning said piston to its normal inoperative position, and connections between said inlet and outlet valves whereby the opening of the inlet valve causes the closing of the outlet valve.

2. In an automatic locomotive whistle actuating mechanism, a cylinder and a. piston, a pipe for conducting steam into said cylinder to move said piston, a valve in said pipe, a fixed member having a plurality of lovers secured thereto and depending therefrom, a trip member movable with said piston and adapted to engage said levers in succession, and a tension member connected with the valve of the locomotive whistle and connected with all of said levers whereby the whistle valve will be opened on engagement of said trip member with one of SilldlOVOlS. said levers being adjustable on said fixed member to vary the distance between successive levers to thereby vary the intervals between successive blasts of the whistle.

3. In an automatic locomotive whistle actuating mechanism, a cylinder and a piston, a pipe for conducting steam into said cvlinder to move said piston, a valve in said pipe, a fixed member having a plurality of lovers pivotally secured thereto, a trip member movable with said piston and ada )tcd to cngage said levers in succession and a tension member connected with the valve of a locomotive whistle and connected with all of said levers whereby the whistle valve will be opened on engagement of said trip member with said levers, said levers being vorticall-y adjustable on said fixed members to vary the lengths of the blasts of the whistle.

4. In an automatic locomotive whistle actuating mechanism, a. cylinder and a piston, a pipe for conducting steam into said cylinder to move said piston, a valve in said pipe. a plurality of levers, a trip member movable with. said piston and adapted to engage said levers in succession, a tension member connected with the valve of the locomotive whistle and connected with all of said levers whereby the whistle valve will be opened on 5. In an automatic locomotive Whistle ac tuating mechanism a cylinder and a piston, a pipe for conducting steam into said cylinder to move said piston, a valve in said pipe, a fixed member having a plurality of levers pivotally secured thereto, a trip member movable With said piston and adapted to engage said levers in succession, a tension member connected With the valve of the locomotive Whistle and pivotally connected with all of said levers whereby the whistle valve will be opened on engagement of said trip member with said levers, a valve stem for said valve, a trip lever pivotally connected to said valve stem and to said fixed member and having its free extremity in the path of said trip member whereby the engagement of said trip member with said trip lever will cause the closing olsaid valve, and spring means for restoring said piston to its normal inoperative position after the closing of said valve.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

MARTEN FANDERS. 

